Last week we had two network meetings scheduled. Firstly our Blackburn network which had changed to a very special venue, onboard “The Romance” canal boat, owned by Lesley Yates and her family who run the Canal Boat Cruise Company.

We are always looking for ways of improving and refreshing the service we provide to our members, so when Lesley suggested using her boat for the networking group we thought it might be a nice experience for our members.

” Floating Networking” proved a great success on Wednesday with our lady members meeting lots of new visitors. The visitors had heard about the event via social media sites such as Twitter and our facebook page, we also gained some press coverage by creating something a bit unusual and as it was different it attracted ladies who may not have come along before. So from a marketing exercise it was a great success and we gained new members at the event.

Most importantly we had to gain feedback from our existing members to ensure they were happy with the change and if this new venue would be suitable long term. After gaining feedback it has highlighted a couple of areas which we will have to adapt, but as long as we take this onboard our members are happy.

We have also been able to work collaboratively with Lesley, a member of our Chorley network by using this venue which will benefit her, us and our members.

Lisa Thomason from “Bighorse Design” printed and supplied our special signage for the entrance to the boat and I would like to say a big thank you to her as she always goes out of her way to source the right products for us and great prices. Nothing is ever to much trouble, no matter how small the job.

Our second network meeting was on Friday at Blackpool which was busy as usual. Following on from our successful “International Women’s Day” event, Lynne MacDonald who had attended this popped in to have a look at Blackpool. Lynne had been having a week of Pink Link experiences; Thursday International Women’s Day event where she met Tracy Irwin our Furness licensee and the following day visited Tracy and her group in Barrow in Furness. There she met Helyn Connerr who had a workshop the next day which Lynne booked herself on. So when she visited Blackpool on Friday she had meet lots of Pink Link ladies and experienced a variety of events across the North West.

Lynne expressed how much she had enjoyed meeting all the ladies who were involved with Pink Link, how welcoming and friendly they all were. Also what different experiences she had compared to other events she had been too. It was fantastic to hear such an enthusiastic testimonial and especially as her positive experience was gained from far and wide across our network.

So keep up the good work ladies, welcoming, friendly and inspiring other business women and we will keep listening.